History of China from 1600 to 1987 - Page 6

A College Paper By Paul Noll

H. Beginning of Communism

A new voice now entered upon the Chinese scene, Karl Marx. Marx became interested in the new phase of British Imperialism in China and began to write about it. Eventually, he began to tire of China and went on to new areas. He had planted some seeds that would later grow. Marx predicted the Qing dynasty must surely fall soon. But to everyone's surprise it survived until 1912

A new rebellion emerged in 1851 that raged until 1868, the Nian rebellion. This rebellion centered in the Henan and Anhui provinces. The Muslim revolts also raged from 1855 to 1873. These took place in Gansu and Xinjiang provinces among the Muslim populations. After a siege of sixteen months, the Muslim leader Ma surrendered. The victorious Chinese commander executed Ma and his family by slicing. The rest of the rebellion soon fell after that. An old Chinese proverb says, "Kill one to scare a thousand." For the first time since 1850, China had become whole again except for the treaty ports and unified under Qing rule.

At the age of five, Emperor Tongzhi began his reign. His mother Ci Xi and his Uncle Dong along with an exceptional group of provincial officials managed to reinvest the Qing dynasty with a new sense of purpose, shore up the economy, and develop some significant new institutions. Zeng established new schools to learn foreign languages, scientific studies, and Western ideas. He reformed the land policies and established a modern machine shop using American tools and equipment. He sent a young man Yung to America to Yale who graduated in 1854, the first Chinese to graduate from an American University.

The Qing established the first foreign ministry in 1861 and began to study international law. During the Prussian-Danish war of 1864, the conflict spread to China. The Prussians seized three Danish ships in Chinese waters. The Chinese using international law forced the Prussians to release the Danish ships and pay compensation to the Chinese.